What The Private Sale Of Fossils Means For Paleontology

After a stegosaurus skeleton sold for $44.6 million, paleontologists are concerned about how selling dinosaur fossils affects research.

On July 17, Apex the stegosaurus was sold at Sothebys in New York City for a record $44.6 million. The buyer was billionaire Ken Griffin, CEO of the hedge fund Citadel, who says he plans to loan the fossil to American institutions for display.

But despite Griffin’s statement, some paleontologists aren’t too happy about the trend of fossils going up for auction.

The sale of dinosaur fossils has become more and more profitable in recent years. Eight out of the ten most expensive fossils have been sold in the last four years. This trend of rising sale prices leaves museums and research institutions unable to pay for fossils that could benefit paleontological research.

Paleontologists fear that as more and more fossils become privately owned, the availability of fossils for research and even access to dig sites might decrease or be restricted.

SciFri guest host and producer Kathleen Davis is joined by Dr. Steve Brusatte, professor of paleontology at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland to talk about the potential scientific impacts of privatizing and selling fossils.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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